On November 24, 2024, the roundtable “Waiting for Icy Roads: Is St. Petersburg Ready for the Winter 2024-2025?” was held at the press centre of Delovoy Petersburg title. The experts discussed the current objectives related to the “Capital of the North” preparation for the historically complicated winter season: HR resources of the city, equipment supplies, street cleaning specifics during cold season and organization of grounds cleaning without damage to the environment.
The roundtable speakers included the representatives of the National Association of Winter Maintenance of Infrastructural Facilities and Transport Facilities, Ural Plant of Deicing Materials (UZPM), commission for municipal facilities and comfortable city environment of St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Laboratory of Methods of Rehabilitation of Technogenic Landscapes of St. Petersburg Federal Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Road Education Association, Ecological Union, and specialized winter machinery manufacturers.
The participants noted that the main method of combating snow and ice is still the application of salt and sand mixtures and it is extremely difficult to abandon completely the use of this unsafe and low-efficiency material. The problem here is both the lack of sufficient financing for purchasing modern deicing materials and town-building specifics – in St. Petersburg there are mainly narrow courtyards, in which the operation of machinery is limited. However, the use of salt and sand mixture as the main tool to remove precipitation is harmful not only for our shoes, but for the region’s environment as well, which the roundtable participants agreed upon unanimously.
The speakers of the discussion paid close attention to the address of Evgeniy Nemirovkiy, UZPM Business Development Advisor to the General Director. He shared the company’s experience of developing and producing modern agents, providing more eco-friendly alternatives to the traditional “road salt”. As Evgeniy Nemirovskiy noted, “there’s salt and then there’s salt”: many people believe that innovative deicing materials are no better than the traditional road salt, if for no other reason than because they contain the same sodium chloride and calcium chloride. The UZPM Advisor to the General Director explained the difference and reminded the audience of the past experience of the cultural capital of Russia, when local authorities decided to stop using any kind of salt in winter altogether:
“The year 2015: at that time the Environmental Committee went out to Moskovsky Prospekt and took soil samples. The results showed that the soil was salinized to the depth of 2.5 metres and needed to be removed. If we consider just Moskovsky Prospekt in terms of this objective, it is almost 10 kilometres, not to mention including other trunk roads into the program. As a result, in 2016 the then acting chairman of amenities committee suggested another solution: to prohibit the use of road salt because of soil salinization. The idea was that cleaning without salt would help optimize the environmental situation and reduce costs. As a result, the city ended up covered with mountains of snow. The fact was that for approximately a week the municipal services cleaned the snow mechanically and took it away, and then they estimated how much it cost to remove the snow, and it turned out to be much more expensive than expected. The same year 2016 featured a “boom” of spiked shoe sales in St. Petersburg. Only children were happy to be taken to kindergartens and schools on inflatable sledges. Once the conclusion on the high cost of mechanized cleaning was made, the use of salt and sand mixtures was allowed.
Now, each spring beautiful St. Petersburg looks dirty until “Karchers” wash it off. Last year, 144 tons of salt and 88 tons of sand were purchased. If this quantity of salt and sand mixture is poured out in the street, it is only possible to collect half of it at best during cleaning.
As for road salt, which has been used for over a century both in Russia and in Europe, and causes soils salinization, at least 10 years is required to lower its concentration.
Since its incorporation, UZPM has been studying all the characteristics of using road salt and salt and sand mixtures. For several years we have been looking for the exact composition that would melt the snow with minimal negative impact. And we did it – we brought this product to the market. The multi-component agent includes traditional sodium chloride and calcium chloride, but also inhibitors that reduce corrosion and environmental impact. Moreover, today all the above is fused into a single granule. In the past, mechanical mixtures were used, but when they flew out of the vehicle, it was unclear, where each of them landed and in which area certain impact occurred. Now one granule contains both inhibitors and sodium chloride with calcium chloride. Therefore, we can clearly understand what impact that granule had, having falling on a certain area of a square metre.
The Ecological Union of St. Petersburg is also concerned about the mass use of salt and sand mixtures in the city streets. According to them, melted snow containing road salt eventually gets into soil and water, distorting the natural balance and having negative impact on people’s health. Then Evgeniy Nemirovskiy explained that the preventive treatment method can be an alternative to the usual cleaning with road salt and sand:
“As I have already said, currently St. Petersburg requires about 200 thousand tons of traditional materials. The preventive treatment method would, firstly, allow reducing the use of those materials by 3 times, and, secondly, the use of modern deicing materials will allow bringing down the total amount of deicing materials by 2 times. As a result, the city will use 60-70 thousand tons of deicing materials instead of 200 thousand tons, while the salt impact on the city will be significantly mitigated.”
The participants expressed their agreement with the necessity of gradual transition to more eco-friendly solutions. However, it was noted that the implementation of new technologies will require additional financial and infrastructural resources.
Following the results of the roundtable, the speakers agreed to continue the dialogue between business, academic community and city authorities to look for optimal solutions aimed at improving the environmental situation and enhancing the quality of the city infrastructure winter maintenance.